2014 has been a bit of a transitional year. Family changes (these things called babies and kids) has made breaking away from the home front an evening of boardgame debauchery a wee bit more challenging – driving me back into the hovel of PC and iOS gaming a bit more. Sadly though, within this hovel, I found myself bombarded with far too many seasonal sales of tempting digital goods for my own well-being. Steam seasonal sales, the Touch Arcade iOS app tracker (with sales notifications!), Humble Bundle sales (lord help me), and the ever-present GOG.com (nostalgia runs deep with this one!) has made sure that my wallet feels the cruel bite at regular intervals.
So given all of this, what have I picked up? What’s worth special attention? What have I actually been playing? What do I wish I was playing? What should I have played but didn’t? Well good friends, read on if you dare!
In the past year I’ve acquired the following (it pains me psychologically to type this all, but I’ll consider it my penance):
Actual Boardgame Acquisitions
- The Badger Deck
- Lagoon: Lost Druids
- Onirim 2nd Edition
- Legitimacy
- Tahiti
This was a slow year in boardgame land. All the above, except the awesome Badger Deck, were acquired as Christmas gifts this year, and have yet to be played. Overall, with my boardgame collection, I feel like I’m at a point where I really have all the games I’m interesting in playing, and I want to just play those games more until I’m motivated to try something new. Ah wel…
Civilization / 4X Games
The 4X/Strategy genre is my favorite genre of videogames, and unsurprisingly were the biggest category of purchases. 4X/civ games are going through a big of a renaissance and there are some fantastic games coming out these days.
PC
- Age of Wonders 1, 2, Shadow Magic (few hours with Shadow Magic)
- Age of Wonders 3 (200+ hours)
- Civilization 4 Complete (un-played)
- Civilization 5 Complete (10+ hours)
- Crusader Kings 1 (un-played)
- Crusader Kings 2 (couple hours, ugh – dense!)
- Endless Legends (~6 hours)
- Europa Universalis IV (un-played)
- Galactic Civ 2 (previously played/owned)
- Horizon (~2 hours)
- Space Empires IV (un-played)
- Space Empires V (un-played)
- Sword of the Stars Complete (previously played/owned)
- The Last Federation (~2 hours)
iOS
- Autumn Dynasty Warlords (played moderately)
- King of Dragon Pass (played moderately)
- Alien Tribe 2 (~ 2 hours)
- Palm Kingdoms 2 (less than an hour)
Age of Wonders 3 is, without a doubt, one of my favorite games of all time. I wrote about it in my review a while ago, and I continue to play it on a near daily basis. I’ve clocked over 200 hours (I own it on both Steam and GOG if that says anything!). It’s definitely war-focused 4X game, as the empire management is relatively simplified compared to other games. However the strategic aspects of force position and maneuver, as well as the tactical combat, is just out of this world. It reminds me a lot of a dream I had, which was playing a Warhammer 40,000 campaign on an over-world map with bases and multiple armies moving about, and then when the armies fight it drops into the tactical level battle. Tons of strategic depth and variety, awesome magic system, great visuals and lore … what more could I ask for?
Endless Legends is another 4X game, released in October, which is making some serious waves. Civilization: Beyond Earth was a letdown critically and for many gamers, but Endless Legends seems to have won people over in its place. It’s a gorgeous game, with some very clever ideas – but I personally find it a bit dull and boring in terms of strategy. Too much management and trivial decisions overall causes the game to feel like it’s playing itself a little bit.
King of Dragon Pass is an older game (from 1999?) released onto iOS and is one of the most incredible game designs/concepts I’ve ever experienced. If you can imagine a game that’s a cross between a tribe-management simulator, 4X, and choose your own adventure, then this is it. Highly immersive and narrative driven strategy game worth checking out. I wrote about KoDP a while ago as well.
A number of other game I’ve re-purchased and want to try out again to see how they hold up (Sword of the Stars, GalCiv2). A bunch of other games I picked up cheap (or got as gifts!) and still need to dig my teeth into. If only I could put down Age of Wonders 3!
RTS (Real-Time Strategy) Games
I used to play a lot of RTS games. Nowadays, it’s hard to get a un-disruptionable (?) block of time to play. Some of these I picked up because I missed the boat when they were first released and I’ve been wanting to give them a try when the moment is right.
PC
- Age of Empires III: Complete (un-played)
- Medieval II: Total War Kingdoms (un-played)
- Planetary Annihilation (un-played)
- Rise of Nations: Extended Edition (un-played)
- Supreme Commander + Forged Alliance (un-played)
iOS
- First Strike (played moderately)
- Haegemonic: Legions of Iron (less than an hour)
- Galcon 2 (less than an hour)
First Strike is the game I’ve played the most in this category, which is a rather interesting weapons-of-mass-distriction based RTS game. Aside from being a frantic and compelling game in its own right, it also provides a bit of commentary and soul searching. There is something horrific that reminds us about the truth of nuclear proliferation when you complete a session. It gives you the civilian death toll and a single message of “You Won?” when the game is over, reminding us that there is little to rejoice in “winning” a nuclear war. Touchingly, part of the game’s sale revenues go to support anti-proliferation campaigns.
Tactical Games
Tactical games (in my world) are generally turn based games down at the “squad” level.
iOS
- Sid Meier’s Ace Patrol (un-played)
- Motorsport Manager (un-played)
- Great Big Wargames (un-played)
- Warhammer 40,000 Space World (un-played)
- Hoplite (un-played)
- Banner Saga (just started playing)
- Shadowrun Returns (played 6+ hours, currently playing)
Banner Saga is an acquisition I just started playing. It is, without a doubt, a beautiful and conceptually interesting game. Experiencing it my iPad seems to be the ideal way to do it. I’ll have more to say on this in the future, I’m only about an hour into so far. Till then, enjoy the trailer!
Shadowrun Returns is a sort of hybrid RPG/Tactical Combat game based of Shadowrun of course, an icon of cyberpunk meets fantasy. I’m currently working my way through the game and greatly enjoying all it has to offer. The world isn’t as open as some previous Shadowrun games have felt, but maybe that’s just my initial impression. I still have a ways to go through the game before the jury is in.
FPS (First Person Shooter) Games
Once upon a time, FPS games were my lifeblood. Playing Quake, Half-Life, Counter-Strike, Unreal and so on in multiplayer was where my gaming was at. I’m far less inclined to pick up FPS games these days, and my generally out-of-date computer hardware is happy to reinforce this sentiment.
PC
- Battlefield: Bad Company 2 (played 12+ hours)
- Guns of Icarus (just started)
- Insurgency (un-played)
- Metro 2033 (un-played)
iOS
- The Hunted (un-played)
I did manage to play Battlefield: Bad Company 2 quite a bit – and it is a blast for sure. Guns of Icarus just looks like too much fun to ignore. So I bought all my local friends a copy. Someday we’ll have glorious battles in the skies.
RPG / Action RPG Games
I used to play a lot of RPG games, and as a consequence I’m pretty discriminating about which one’s I’ll sit down to play. I bought a bunch (too many?) in various too-good-to-pass-up deals, but I found a couple of gems.
PC
- Beyond Divinity (couple hours?)
- Divine Divinity (un-played)
- Mount & Blade (un-played)
- The Witcher (1 hour?)
- The Witcher 2 (un-played)
- Gothic 3 (un-played)
iOS
- Battleheart Legacy (played extensively!)
- Terraria (played 10+ hours, currently playing)
Battleheart Legacy is an action RPG (think Diablo-like game) that is just a blast to play. It has a really interesting and open class/skill system where you can mix and match skills from 9 or 10 different classes and come up with all sorts of interesting combos and synergies. It has a great interface and that addictive quality to it that makes you want to keep playing and mashing those skill buttons. I’m currently playing a sort of Teleporting Ninja / Backstabbing Thief / Leaping-Barbarian / Aura of Healing Paladin / Flame-weapon Battlemage sort of character – and it’s glorious warping about the dungeons battling foes. The game feels poised for an interesting narrative, but that aspect of it fell a little flat. Still, it’s a wonderfully well done game that is just a joy to play.
Terraria is my current addiction. It is sort of a side-scrolling Minecraft / survival-craft game. It’s a lot of fun digging down into the earth to look for cool stuff, but then stumbling through some wall and unleashing a Hoover-dam sized volume of water into the area you just excavated and frantically climb up you shoddy platforms and ropes to try and escape. Among other things. It’s a sandbox survival game that’s got a lot of positive press. Great fun and creativity.
Survival Games / Rogue-like
Survival and “Rogue-like” (basically permanent death) games have been on the rise for the past few years, and I find myself simultaneously annoyed and delighted by most of them. They are generally hard and unforgiving – but usually in a good way.
PC
- Don’t Starve (played ~2 hours)
- Drifter (un-played)
- Dungeon of the Endless (un-played)
- The Long Dark (played 6+ hours)
- Shelter (unplayed)
iOS
- FTL Faster than Light (played 6+ hours, continue to play)
- Out There (played 12 hours, continue to play)
- Road of Kings (less than an hour)
- Card Dungeon (less than an hour)
- Wayward Souls (played 4+ hours)
- Arcane Quest 2 (less than an hour)
- Wicked Lair (unplayed)
The Long Dark is an FPS survival game still in early access. It’s a gorgeous game visually, and very immersive in its simplicity. Essentially, you are stranded in some frozen wasteland and need to find food, shelter, warmth, and so on to see how long you can survive. I’ve only made a few days in my best stretch. Usually I get eaten by wolves within a few hours of stumbling around in the dark. I’m holding off on playing more because I really like where this game is going and want to wait until it’s more finished before getting into it too much more.
FTL is an absolutely awesome game, and the iOS tablet implementation is just awesome. FTL has you commanding a space ship and its crew across a number of regions and sectors of space to deliver some secret plans to the good rebel guys. Something like that. I like to imagine that I’m Han Solo in the Falcon running from the empire and trying to get to the rebel base. There are tons of ships to try out, each with different approaches, and the basic decisions you face about how to spend resources and what equipment to utilize along the way is dazzlingly challenging in all the right ways. Things can go soooo wrong.
Out There is my poster child for a modern game with basically no violence (aside form you getting occasionally attacked). Imagine the Oregon Trail but in space. You have a ship and need to manage various resources and your cargo as you warp from system to system trying to reach one of the three end points. I’ve made it to one of them once. I’ve played it a LOT! It’s hard! But it is amazingly cerebral and introspective too. There are great narrative touches throughout and it’s just a wonderful game across the board.
Wayward Souls merits a mention, since it’s topped a lot of charts this year. It has a retro pixel art style reminiscent of the 16-bit console gaming era I grew up in. Damn is it ever hard. Or I’m just bad. There is an interesting narrative that leads you along, but unfortunately I’ve only seen about 1/8th of it because I’m terrible at the game. It is a fun challenge though, and it looks great in a retro sort of way.
Adventure / Narrative Games
I used to play so many adventure games growing up (sierra Quest games in particular). It’s nice that they are making a comeback in recent years, and in particular starting to show some real innovation and novelty in the themes and subjects they address. Adventure games, given their narrative focus, seem to be at the forefront of “games as art” efforts – or at least games pushing non-entertainment-first intents. More to come on that later.
PC
- Dear Esther (completed!)
- Violet (3+ hours, still going)
- Child of Light (unplayed)
- Heroine’s Quest (just started)
iOS
- Hollywood Monsters (finished!)
- Mechinarium (6+ hours, still going)
- Space Adventure: A Cosmic Adventure (4+ hours, still going)
- Heavy Metal Thunder Game book (4+ hours, still going)
Dear Esther is a “walking simulator” type of game. These are games you just … walk. There isn’t really anything to interact with at all. You just walk, following a more or less linear path. Amazing aesthetics aside, there is also a narrator that provides voice-overs as you walk, gradually revealing a story as sublime and haunting as the landscape you are walking though. I won’t spoil the details, but the story has sparked all sort of discussions about WTF has actually transpired, and it’s possible the story isn’t even the same each time you play through. I haven’t dared play it again. But it’s worth looking at for a glimpse into this genre.
Boardgames + Puzzle Games
I’m lumping boardgames and puzzle games into the same category (oh the heresy!). I think I’ve mostly tapped out the iOS-adaptions of physical boardgames that interested me in prior years, and the number of releases for games I want to play has slowed down at bit.
iOS
- Quarriors (unplayed)
- Hearthstone (6+ hours, fading)
- Agricola (2 hours)
- Star Realms (played extensively, 100+ games?)
- Third Eye Crime (played ~6 hours)
- Catchup (unplayed)
- Hitman GO (unplayed)
- Damn Little Town (unplayed)
- Talisman (unplayed)
- Nightmare Cooperative (unplayed)
Star Realms has proven to be a constant winner tough. People knocked it’s UI at first, but I never had any issue with it. It’s a great game, addicting, strategic, and all of that. I’ve been playing it a bunch with local friends, which is a nice way to get some gaming in. Looking forward to seeing how this one expands in the future.
The above 75 or so purchases, all told, probably doubled my game library. And I still have 20 more games wrapped up in Humble Bundle bundles that I haven’t unbundled yet. In total, approximately 30 of this year purchases remain completely un-played – which isn’t too terrible considering the reduced amount of game time I have at my disposal these days.
iOS games have fared a little better since I’m likely play a bunch of different games depending on my mood. When I sit down to play a game at my laptop PC, I have a REALLY hard time not firing up Age of Wonders 3 and leading my empire on to victory. Age of Wonders 3, released in March, has already had one expansion come out, and a second expansion adding a new class (Necromancer) and race (Frostlings) is on the way. I’ve also been playing AoW3 multiplayer with local friends, which has been great fun for both the challenge and camaraderie.
What’s next? In 2015 I’d like to be a bite more judicious in my purchases. Videogame sales are sooo tempting, with games regularly in the $5-15 dollar range, so it hard to turn down a game you’ve been eyeballing when a good sale hits. Yet I have to keep in mind my time and capacity for actually playing all of these games!
That said, my watch list for 2015 is in full swing, and a future post will provide a look ahead at what I’ve been keeping my eyes on. There are some really interesting games coming down the pipe this year. And hopefully I’ll start getting some more boardgaming goodness in as well. We’re slowly emerging from the darkness of infant-to-baby care – and perhaps time will swing back my way again. Till then, cheers!
Mirrors are placed in the right place with glass polishing in the end.
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